The prior art is already aware of push brooms which are in common use today, and it is also aware of brooms and the like which have bristles of two different stiffnesses, and one such prior art example is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,043,758. Another example of prior art patent which shows a brush or the like having fibers or bristles of different stiffnesses or abrasive characteristics is U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,369.
The present invention relates to the floor broom, and the broom has a sweeping head in a cylindrical formation and having bristles of two different stiffnesses on diametrically opposite sides of the head. With that arrangement, the floor broom of this invention can be inverted and thus the bristles of the particular stiffness can be presented to the floor, depending upon the upright or inverted position of the broom head. In that context, the prior art is also already aware of brushes or brooms which have their tufts or bristles or the like in a cylindrical pattern, and examples of such are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,124,647 and 3,633,974 and 3,755,847 and 3,945,080. This group of prior art patents shows brushes different from the present invention in that the present invention is related to an invertible floor broom which has bristles of two different stiffnesses on diametrically opposite sides of the broom, all for permitting selective use of either group of bristles, depending upon the nature of the material being swept and the surface which is being swept.
With regard to the first two patents mentioned above, the bristles or fibers disclosed therein are of different stiffnesses but they are all simultaneously presented to the surface being swept, and there is no arrangement or possibility for selectively presenting bristles of only one stiffness, according to the material and surface being swept.
Another distinction, and an advantage and object of the present invention, compared to the aforesaid patents is that the broom of the present invention is arranged in a cylindrical pattern and with bristles of different stiffnesses on diametrically opposite sides of the cylinder so that the user can present bristles of either stiffness to the surfaces to be swept, and also the angle of sweeping is the uniform regardless of the angle at which the broom handle is held.
Still further, the present invention provides an invertible floor broom wherein the user can visually, and thus readily, determine the location of the bristles of two different stiffnesses, and thus the user can utilize the desired bristles and their particular stiffness, all according to the requirements for optimum sweeping of the material and the surface being worked upon at that time. In accomplishing this object, and in distinguishing over the prior art, the broom of the present invention has an elongate member on which the bristles of two different stiffnesses are mounted and present the cylindrical broom head, and the elongate member has two diametrically opposite holes for receiving the broom handle, all for permitting utilization of any one of the four quadrants of the sweeping cylinder.